Skip to main content

A Familiar Place, a Different Place

By

By Yong Xi Yan

This final spring break was a wild stretch for its unique activities. Throughout the past seven years, I have been to Kuala Lumpur seven times, almost as regularly as if it were a neighboring city. These trips encompass some of my incredible memories, with examples including a meetup with fellow cousins and creating collaborative YouTube videos, constructions of solo travel plans around the city, utilization of weekends for open campus events, and other errands. Just a day ago, on March 24, I embarked on yet another trip to the city, but this time with my friends: Daniel Willoughby, Hudson Brooks, and Iyan Sandahl. (12)

Outside school grounds, I have only been on vacation with my parents or relatives. I have never traveled with friends on this scale. After some hastened planning, we organized train tickets and an Airbnb, mitigating tons of costs otherwise presented by hotel booking and other factors. Plans for tourist attractions and other locations emerged over days of rigorous thinking. All that remained was the boarding and enjoyment.

Boarding the ETS Gold train at Butterworth, bound for KL Sentral, we found ourselves talking non-stop, taking dumb photos, enjoying the view outside, and more. Upon reaching, we were engulfed in a huge station incomparable to the tiny station at Butterworth, with a huge mall and elevated LRT trains. As a train enthusiast, I found in awe that KL, despite major shortcomings such as the presence of one central station and the lack of rapid service trains, still developed a system incomparable to Penang, which lingers with sickening traffic and slow cars.

Going to numerous towers and taking pictures, touring our large Airbnb with the perfect view outside, and checking out massive, four-times-bigger malls, were among our events. Particularly stunning were our photographs of the Merdeka 118 tower, where we got to take a ground shot of ourselves and the tower and some infrastructure-themed photos, and our lunch at one of the fantastic tens of Japanese restaurants surrounding the final floor at the Lot 10 and Isetan department store. Spending our time in various malls and towers meant an utterly distinct experience from what we had in Penang.

One trip organizer and great friend, Hudson reflects on our trip opportunity: “The most fun part of the trip for me was being able to spend time with my friends. We've been friends for a very long time, but we never really had the opportunity to do something like this.” 

Daniel also reflects on skills he practiced, “I was able to practice my planning and budgeting skills, since it was fully up to us where we went, and how much we spent on food and transport.”

As we headed back to Penang, we realized the opportunities we had taken to sharpen our management and cooperation skills and, most importantly, our strong friendship over these seven years. It wasn’t just about the break that allowed us to rest easy, but this fun trip that brought us to new places.

Picture of us at the Merdeka 118 Tower

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DINGBAT DALAT STUDENT SPENDS PRECIOUS TIME CONJURING UP SELF-REFERENTIAL SENIOR SCRIBBLE RATHER THAN GATHERING LEGITIMATE WORK

By Anonymous
Yusoof Monawvil PENANG, MA - As the deadline drew near and the stars aligned in the night sky above the majestic waters of the Strait of Malacca, one particular Dalat student—Yusoof Monawvil (12), despite a plethora of school events to select and report on—opted instead to spend a remarkably well-wasted 24 minutes staring at a blank Google Docs page, fruitlessly drawing up and shooting down brainstormed ideas.  In a moment of sheer and undeniable epiphany, Monawvil deemed it only fitting to self-referentially satirize his own ingrained incompetence and dingbattery. Commenting on the flash of insight, Monawvil quoted himself, saying: “It all just kinda made sense. I went on DISCourse to look at the little rubric thing Ms. Grad and Mr. Hieber posted, and I checked if I was following all of the guidelines... And I technically am/was; [N]ot like there’s any specific direktive [sic] prohibiting self-quoting.”  In a turn of events, Monawvil did come to find his self-quoting en...
6 comments
Read more

"Spikeball, Swimming, and Sickness: The Remnants of Senior Sneak" by Ee Rynn Ong

By
“Guys, I think we’re here,” said Jonathan Ooi (12) as he peeked out of the lorry to catch the first glimpse of our Senior Sneak location. This year’s Senior Sneak was held in Nomad Adventure, Gopeng, and the organizers planned many activities for the Class of 2026, ranging from traditional games like congkak and batu seremban to adrenaline-pumping ropes courses and whitewater rafting. These scheduled activities proved to be some of the best highlights of the trip, but top of that, the seniors were also given some daily free time to chat, explore, and relax. Josh Stevens (12) had come prepared for this with two spikeball nets, which immediately attracted attention from people eager to spend time in the outdoor sun. The next five days saw spikeball veterans and newcomers alike, spending their precious one and a half hours daily around the unassuming circular net, smashing the yellow ball in hopes of a victory.  Caleb Evans (12) was one of the newbies to spikeball, learning how the g...
Post a Comment
Read more

“I Miss Her” by Nikhil Pillay

By
While most people had a fun week for mid-semester break, whether it was spent with family, or with friends on impact trips, no one had a more emotionally confusing week than Judson Kenneth Robert Nosker (12).  In the light of recent events, Judson, despite all odds, had gotten in a relationship with one of his classmates, and as the break started, he had started to spend a lot of time with her. While with her, he started to experience a new level of joy and completeness that he had never felt before. In the words of Judson Nosker, “The first half of the break was good, but the rest of it was horrible.”  The reason for such a quote and the roller coaster of emotion was because half way through the break, disaster had struck. Judson’s girlfriend had gone on a trip with her family to Thailand, leaving Judson all alone. For the rest of the week, Judson was in a state of longing for her presence.  His friends have reported numerous occasions when Judson would be sitting with t...
Post a Comment
Read more